dustyLogic

For the fun of it, few weeks ago I submitted some shots to a local competition and I just got back the results. My scores are better then expected. Here are the shots and their scores:

Pictorial 7/10, Technical 8/10, Interpretation 7/10, Comments: Nice close-up. Technically well done.

Pictorial 9/10, Technical 9/10, Interpretation 8/10, Comments: Too much empty space on top, Flash is very strong. Great shot.

Pictorial 7/10, Technical 7/10, Interpretation 7/10, Comments: Nice colors and shadows. No fill light. Nice title.

Let me start by apologizing to my loyal blog readers who helped me realize I did not post anything for a week. I ended up working long hours, with almost no room for entertainment (that includes blogging).

Here’s a short summary of the week:

I have to say I’m proud of myself. I didn’t do any work over the last weekend. I did a lot of other computer related stuff, but nothing for my clients. Zero billable hours.

The week didn’t start too good. I figured out I was getting less and less productive with one of my customers. I’m working on few simultaneous projects for him. Each of them requiring maintenance and changes, which eventually lead me to spend 80% of my time dealing with little requests and 20% implementing new features. This is what happens when you deliver a product that is 90% completed and you never get a change to go back and fix those little glitches. So anyways, I had a talk with the client and explained he my new plan. I will stop developing new stuff for few days and concentrate on wrapping up whatever is already in production. He wasn’t too happy in the beginning, but I did manage to make him understand. Things are back to normal now and I learned my lesson.

Entertainment of the day (Monday): An ex-co-worker talking loud on his cell and his explanation why he talks so loud: “Because my friend on the other end was talking too quiet and I couldn’t hear him”. Hmmm…

The rest of the week just flew by. I don’t even remember all the stuff that I accomplished this week. Is that normal? Am I getting old? Another good reason to get back to daily blogging.

Picture: Today’s weather. We have 4 seasons in Saskatchewan: Winter, winter, summer and winter. Summer is really beautiful, but it only lasts one weekend. That was last weekend.

I’m getting addicted to blogging. I helps me re-think my day and plan the next day. I’m also down to 1/2 cup of coffee/day.

Today was a day of real-life examples of bad software design. Likely not my designs, but they do affect the part of project on which I’m working on. Design phase is essential to have a healthy product, dohhh. Why is common sense not so common?

Tomorrow I have a meeting with some big sharks. I should be stressed more then I actually am. At some point in life I realized that no matter how much money you have, how much decision making power you have, you are still human. One thing that all humans have in common, is that none of us likes to get screwed. I don’t like fake smiles and overinflated marketing with lots of fine print. I usually present things as they are and in a very straight-to-the-point manner. Anyways, I’ll let you know how it went.

If you are wondering what’s up with all those little pictures in my posts. Well, I finally dusted off my SLR camera, so I’m posting some random photos of the day. All of them are post-processed in less then 5min.

Entertainment of the day: interview with Rob & Big . I quite like this show, but it looks like it’s over. Big Black got married and has a baby.

Purolator has a delivery service which guarantees a 9AM delivery. But, I’m not Purolator.

Some customers have unrealistic deadlines. I figure it’s because they don’t know how much work it takes to accomplish certain tasks. Which is perfectly normal, but not so easy to deal with. Just after I sold them the idea that my software solution will fix their problem, they want it for the next day. What I found works best is to divide the whole project into modules and deliver by modules. It still won’t be delivered the next day, but way sooner then the deadline for the whole project. In my short freelancing experience, customers always want something “now”. It doesn’t need to be the whole thing, but at least something that will make them feel that I am helping them and it’s just a matter of time, but things are on the right track. Some clients are more chilled out then others. Making your client feel more comfortable is definitely a “must have” skill for a freelancer.

I had a 30min nap today and it felt good. I was planning on having those regularly, but the plan didn’t work. I’m doing an on-site contract so it’s hard to justify naps.

Other than that, I think I’m done buying work tools for now. My start up cost was mostly licensing and I got all licenses I need for now. Actually, wait, I still need to buy a good office chair. Any recommendations?

Those are my hot peppers to be. I planted them few weeks ago to have something that is “alive” in my office. And NO, I didn’t start talking to plants yet.

I made a big mistake today. I calculated how much an hour of doing nothing costs me. Then I did something worst that that. I divided the previous number by 60. If you start looking at your time this way, you will never take a single minute off. Than means working evenings, nights and weekends. OK, OK, I’m exaggerating here, but it will make you think if you should say “I’m done for the day” or rather “I’ll do one more thing and then I’m done”.

Entertainment of the day: willitblend.com

This morning, it hit me like a falling brick.

I drove Aleksandra to work this morning. And then I realized that I don’t have to be at work at 9am. So I went for a walk to take some pictures (included in this post) of a London-like foggy morning. Unlike a friend of mine, I followed a path along the river. I was back home 30min later and ready to work.

I’m usually super motivated in the morning. So I start the day by accomplishing few shorter tasks from my To-Do list. Then check them off my list which makes me even more motivated. Then I attack a task that will take me at least few hours of that day. When I feel that my productivity depreciates, I press the pause button on the big task and I go back to my To-Do list to pick an easy task. Afterward, I press the play button again. At the end of the day I usually do regression testing.

Now that the summer is here, I plan to get into photography again. You can check out my gallery on DeviantART.